MASON HITS OUT AT FANS OVER LITTLER BOOING

LUKE LITTLER should not be getting BOOED, according to ex-pro Chris Mason.

‘The Nuke’ has found himself on the receiving end of jeers and whistles in recent Premier League outings at the oche. 

World No.1 Littler sits fifth in the table after winning one match in the opening two nights of the tournament. 

Mason has blasted sections of the crowd for turning on the teenage sensation.

He told the Double Tops podcast: “It’s a typical British thing, we don’t like winners. I’m not surprised he got booed in Newcastle, though, as it’s happened before. 

“I was working in Germany and he got a load of stick – and he’s basically now said that unless he really has to he won’t go there anymore.  

“It’s an interesting one as something like 30 per cent of tickets sold at the World Championship are to Germans. 

“The culture of booing has worked its way into darts, you just have to look at the stick Gezzy (Gerwyn Price) got. 

“If it’s a wall of noise you can play in it, it’s when the whistles and the other sounds come in that it gets tricky.  

“You become very aware of it and, when you throw, you almost wait for it because you know it’s coming. 

“I don’t really understand it and I don’t like it. Why are people booing the best player in the world? Let him and the other players do what they do and play at their best.” 

Former world champ Luke Humphries believes some fans are simply growing tired of seeing Luke Littler win so often and says that is the price you pay for dominating the sport.

He told talkSPORT: “It’s the same scenario for myself — when I was world champion and world No.1, I was getting booed every time I was coming out. 

“It’s an English thing — you want to break down the person that is dominating. For me, I think he has achieved so much that people are getting bored of it. 

“They want someone else to win, so they are desperate to put him off a little bit. I saw it at the World Masters — before he comes on, he gets booed. 

“But when his song comes on, everyone loves him and it’s great. I think it’s a pantomime thing where, if you are at the top of your game, people just want to pull you down.” 

Littler is back in action on Thursday as he takes on Michael van Gerwen in Glasgow in the Premier League.

Image by Taylor Lanning.